You sold loads of our public assets mostly overseas as predicted, got rid of our only independent public TV7, gave tax cuts to the rich while putting GST up for the poor, used our money to bail out private finance companies ($1.775 billion), wasted millions trying to change our flag, did nothing about trawlers dumping fish, did nothing about climate change, slashed DOC’s funding, privatised our prisons, grew the gap between rich and poor, tried to allow overseas mining companies into our National Parks, allowed us to become a tax haven, let house prices go through the roof, didn’t make the GCSB transparent, gave millions of our public money to help overseas oil companies to do deep sea oil drilling, didn’t hold anyone accountable for the Pike River disaster, sacked the democratically elected people on the Christchurch Regional Council, pulled a ponytail or two, let our swamp kauri get shipped off with no valued added, invited Chinese Banks in, allowed our rivers to become far more polluted, and left us with an astronomical debt.

I wish you all the best in Hawaii. PS. I may have got some stuff slightly wrong, as I’ve been drinking Champagne all day."

Don't forget rammed the Auckland Supercity down the throats of everyone, including those waaaaay outside what you'd normally consider 'Auckland' in both the north and south and increased copyrights and penalties for infringement without any balance on the side of the public good.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone SE + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

MikeB4: Parties from the outer reaches of the spectrum don't really gain traction in NZ. Voting here is at the centre/centre left and I don't see the change in leadership impacting on that.

Historically that is the case. But, as Brexit, Trump etc is showing us, history is not necessary being repeated now the winds of populism are beginning to blow. And NZ may not be immune.

Brexit and Trump happened in countries where the political system frustrates the majority. The US is barely a democracy at all and the UK has yet another "majority" government barely 35% voted for.

NZ got out of that club in 1996 when we had our first MMP election. Being able to elect people you want is a huge 'release valve' for pent up political pressures. We - and every other country that fairly represents voters in the legislature - likely won't see extremists actually holding power. They may win seats....but not power. They would need more than 50% of the vote to get it. In the US they got it with 25% of voters support - only half vote because the system IS rigged - and in the UK 35% thanks to First Past the Post grossly distorting voter intentions.

In a way it's great at highlighting the myths around voting systems. FPTP is supposed to deliver "stability" ....and manifestly has not. Whereas PR is supposed to deliver instability.....yet manifestly has not. Countries with PR are able to smooth out the bumps much more easily than the wild lurches FPTP entails (Trump + Brexit).

Staring right at it.....yet some people still believe the old myths.

____________________________________________________I'm on a high fibre diet.

MikeB4: Parties from the outer reaches of the spectrum don't really gain traction in NZ. Voting here is at the centre/centre left and I don't see the change in leadership impacting on that.

Historically that is the case. But, as Brexit, Trump etc is showing us, history is not necessary being repeated now the winds of populism are beginning to blow. And NZ may not be immune.

Brexit and Trump happened in countries where the political system frustrates the majority. The US is barely a democracy at all and the UK has yet another "majority" government barely 35% voted for.

NZ got out of that club in 1996 when we had our first MMP election. Being able to elect people you want is a huge 'release valve' for pent up political pressures. We - and every other country that fairly represents voters in the legislature - likely won't see extremists actually holding power. They may win seats....but not power. They would need more than 50% of the vote to get it. In the US they got it with 25% of voters support - only half vote because the system IS rigged - and in the UK 35% thanks to First Past the Post grossly distorting voter intentions.

In a way it's great at highlighting the myths around voting systems. FPTP is supposed to deliver "stability" ....and manifestly has not. Whereas PR is supposed to deliver instability.....yet manifestly has not. Countries with PR are able to smooth out the bumps much more easily than the wild lurches FPTP entails (Trump + Brexit).

Staring right at it.....yet some people still believe the old myths.

Always thought one of the advantages of FPTP was that constituencies somehow directly got an MP of the party that the majority voted for, non of this list stuff.

May well be wrong, will happily admit I'm very uneducated in such matters.

Always thought one of the advantages of FPTP was that constituencies somehow directly got an MP of the party that the majority voted for, non of this list stuff.

May well be wrong, will happily admit I'm very uneducated in such matters.

Well, with MMP you do get an MP of the party that the majority voted for. You also get MPs in proportion to what everyone voted for.

In my electorate (Auckland Central), we actually have three MPs. Nikki Kaye (who won the seat), Jacinda Ardern (who narrowly missed it, but was high on Labour's list) and Denise Roche (Green List, ran as candidate in AK Central).

I suspect there are other electorates out there with similar representation, and I think it is a good thing. I live on Waiheke Island, and all three of them are accessible (Nikki and Jacinda hold meetings and have been seen around the island a fair bit - I was at the RSA for a NZvSA rugby game and Nikki Kaye was there too). Denise Roche lives on Waiheke.

The thing is, interestingly I heard that during the investigation into Judith Collins, they didn't just check the emails calls and texts related to the specific accusation, but they went back 6 years. At the end of that, they found her innocent of those charges.

Irrationally, I still don't REALLY trust her and feel generally that people shouldn't really put themselves in positions where there is an opportunity for their honesty to be called into question, and this feels a little like that.

I believe Michael Jackson was innocent of messing with those kids, but I think he was very guilty of criminal stupidity for failing to recognise that his behaviour around those kids would have been questioned and removing that doubt. It's a similar sort of thing.

As a result, I just don't really want her to be PM, esp when there are better and less questionable options available.

MikeB4: Parties from the outer reaches of the spectrum don't really gain traction in NZ. Voting here is at the centre/centre left and I don't see the change in leadership impacting on that.

Historically that is the case. But, as Brexit, Trump etc is showing us, history is not necessary being repeated now the winds of populism are beginning to blow. And NZ may not be immune.

Brexit and Trump happened in countries where the political system frustrates the majority. The US is barely a democracy at all and the UK has yet another "majority" government barely 35% voted for.

NZ got out of that club in 1996 when we had our first MMP election. Being able to elect people you want is a huge 'release valve' for pent up political pressures. We - and every other country that fairly represents voters in the legislature - likely won't see extremists actually holding power. They may win seats....but not power. They would need more than 50% of the vote to get it. In the US they got it with 25% of voters support - only half vote because the system IS rigged - and in the UK 35% thanks to First Past the Post grossly distorting voter intentions.

In a way it's great at highlighting the myths around voting systems. FPTP is supposed to deliver "stability" ....and manifestly has not. Whereas PR is supposed to deliver instability.....yet manifestly has not. Countries with PR are able to smooth out the bumps much more easily than the wild lurches FPTP entails (Trump + Brexit).

Staring right at it.....yet some people still believe the old myths.

Brexit and Trump happened in countries where the political system exacerbated income inequality. The UK and US are right up there. So is NZ if you look at the stats.